Summer Breeze – Sew Along Week 3 Ties, Pleats, Gathering & Notches

This week is a packed post! We will be sewing up the ties, creating the front drape and sewing the shoulder and side seams. So let’s just jump right in!!

Begin by sewing the ties. Remember, all seam allowances are 3/8”. Fold the ties in half lengthwise and sew the seam. Do not sew across the end of the tie at this point.

Fold the tie so that the seam is in the middle and the seam allowance is facing to one side. Do not open up the seam allowance.

Now, stitch across the end of the tie.

Turn the tie to the right side and press. The seam will be in the middle of the tie. I like sewing ties in this manner rather than having the seam on the edge as I feel they lay much nicer and have a cleaner finish.

Now for the front drape. Begin with the right front piece. There is a notch where you see my thumb in the picture below.

From that notch point, sew in 2 rows of gathering stitches. My first row of stitches is 1/8” from the edge and my second row is 3/8” from the edge.

Set this piece aside for the moment and take out the main front pattern piece.

There are 2 notches along the curved side of this pattern piece. My finger is pointing to 1 and my pin is pointing to the other. Sew in 2 rows of gathering stitches from 1 notch to the other.

Now the fun begins! Sew the upper pattern piece to the main pattern piece. Sew from the shoulder to the notch ending at the edge of the main front pattern piece. It may look a little strange at this point, but it will ultimately make sense.

Now that the seam has been sewn, take note that there is a small space where there are no gathering stitches. All of the gathering stitches to the right of that section will be gathered into the small space between the seam and the beginning of the gathering stitches. Fold at the notch with right sides together and then pull the gathering stitches until they fit into that area.

The gathering stitches on the upper front piece will be gathered and will match to the area from my pen to the side seam.

In the picture below, all stitches have been gathered. You can see the small area with no gathering stitches and the gathering stitches from the front upper piece.

Before sewing the seam, the small tie will need to be inserted. It should match perfectly to the small un-gathered area. Be sure that when the tie is inserted that the seam will be facing the garment.

Sew from 1 end to the other. I finished this seam with my serger.

Now for the shoulder seam. The right shoulder seam has a “v” section.

Fold at this point. This will form the drape at the shoulder.

In the picture below, you can see my hand inside the front drape.

The tie will help to hold the drape in place.

There are 2 notches along the front right side seam.

Baste the long tie between the 2 notches. Be sure that the seam of the tie is facing up.

Sew the side seams and the shoulder seams. If you would like, the side seams and shoulder seams can be sewn with a French seam just as we did with the center back seam in last week’s post.

My dress is together!

The long tie wraps around the back of the top or dress in this case, and then ties to the shorter tie that was attached in the gathered drape area. It forms a beautiful front drape.

Sewing in the front gathers for the drape can be a little daunting, but once you have figured it out, I think you will feel that it was well worth the effort.

Take a look at the video portion, which will help with gathering, notches and other areas of the blouse.

Next week we will talk about binding finishes and the facings. We will also have a special post dedicated to adding a sleeve to this garment.

In the meantime, check out the Flickr page. It’s a great place to post pictures and ask questions. And, you can pick up a copy of Sew News at shopsewitall.com for more information on our Hot Pattern Sew-Along.

Until next week!

Rhonda Buss

www.rhondabuss.blogspot.com

About Jill

I write for the Sew News and Creative Machine Embroidery blogs. I love sewing, vintage and would love to get a comment from you!